


We're Finding Our Way

by CryoCait



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Legally Blonde - Hach/O'Keefe/Benjamin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Actors, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, I can see it in my head better than I can write it, Marriage Proposal, idk what this even is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-21 06:54:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19997713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CryoCait/pseuds/CryoCait
Summary: Jester and Caleb have been dating for four years, and co-starring as Elle Woods and Emmett Forrest in Legally Blonde the Musical for two. The show is closing, and Caleb has a surprise up his sleeve for the closing night performance.





	We're Finding Our Way

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the Widojest server who got this idea into my head and then allowed me to fall into a fic spiral! Love you all!

The hardest part of being an actor was that the shows always had to come to an end.

Growing up in New York City, watching her mom perform onstage every night, it was a no brainer for Jester to follow her mother’s footsteps and start acting herself. She worked her butt off in theatre school, slogged her way through a million off-Broadway ensemble roles, until she found herself at staged reading of a conceptual piece.

It wasn’t _good,_ per se, but it was something other than bit roles that barely paid the rent. But that show isn’t important to this story, what’s important was her co-star.

Caleb.

A kind man who a gentle face, Jester was smitten from nearly the start. She had heard of showmance horror stories of course, but Jester was never one to shy away from getting what she wanted, and what she wanted was the kind German boy whose smile made her feel like she could fly.

Struggling actor couples don’t make it long in the city, her Mama always said, but Jester knew they were different. She _knew_ they could make it last.

And then they were both cast in _Legally Blonde._

As a child, Jester _dreamed_ of playing Elle Woods, it was her dream role. So, when the revival was announced, she all but forced her way into her agent’s office to get herself an audition. Caleb, who had been seeing marginal success playing a supporting role in an off-Broadway restaging of _Pride and Prejudice_ , was invited to audition. When she was cast as Elle Woods, it was a dream come true. When Caleb was cast as Emmett Forrest, it was like someone read her diary and granted her deepest wishes.

The cast and crew quickly became her family. Fjord, their Warner, was sweet and never failed to make her laugh. Beau, their Vivian, became her closest friend and eventual roommate. Yasha- Enid, Nott- Paulette. Everyone in the crew, Caduceus, Molly, Keg, Cali, they all became her family.

Leaving that was rough.

Two years was a solid run on Broadway, so it came as little shock when their performance was announced to close, but it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

The finale in the final performance was always bittersweet. It wasn’t like she didn’t have a good run, and it wasn’t like she wasn’t starting rehearsals in a month for a new show, but it didn’t mean it didn’t still hurt.

The stage lights caught her eyes as she hugged Fjord, showing the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. With as many performances under their belt as they had, the two of them knew Keg had dropped their mics to prep for the quick change.

“One more song you gotta smile through, alright? Then a great afterparty.” He whispered in her ear. She nodded, near imperceptible to anyone in the audience.

“It still hurts, though.”

As Beau monologued on stage, Jester threw the cap and gown on, not allowing herself to get wrapped up in the moment. _You have a job to do,_ she thought. _Go make everyone smile._ She smiled, the lights hitting her face.

“Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of two thousand and-!” She froze, Nott taking over the final speech.

In the thirty seconds or so she had, she looked around at her friends, all frozen, staring up at her. Yasha, Beau, Fjord, Cad, and Caleb.

Caleb.

Smiling ever so faintly so as not to be noticed by the audience, the two made eye contact. Jester, facing the audience, couldn’t do much, but Caleb beamed at her. _I love you,_ he mouthed.

Before she could do anything else, the lights hit her once again, and she sprung back to life.

“ _I thank you one and all, the ones who thought I’d fall, who taught me how to fail. Who helped me to prevaiiiil! I’m standing here today! You help me find my way!”_ She hopped off the podium, turning away from Caleb for Elle’s final dramatic reveal to Emmett. _“If I could ask you to give me one second before you all go, Emmett Forrest please make me the happiest woman I know-“_ She pulled the prop ring from her pocket and spun around-

Caleb faced her, already on one knee.

The music stopped.

Jester froze, entirely unsure of what to do, or what was happening. She looked to Beau, standing just behind Caleb. She was beaming, and nodded to her.

“Um, Emmett?” She said, not sure what to do. He took in a deep breath.

“Jester. You know I love you, right?” His American accent had dropped entirely, the distinct sound of his German timbre shocking Jester.

The audience started murmuring. Jester chose to ignore them.

“Caleb? What’s going on, you guys?” She looked around to see the entire cast staring at her. Fjord had pulled his phone from his pocket, recording them.

“Wait. I want to see you, proper.” Caleb stood, walking over to her. He took off her cap, handing off to Yasha, standing beside her. Finding the lace edge of her wig, he pulled back the bobby pins she placed strategically through the blonde hair to keep it pinned on with as few pins as possible, handing the wig off as well. Taking a moment, he unpinned her microphone from her wig cap, repinning it to the front of her gown with a bobby pin.

“Caleb, what are you doing?” The audience was going wild as Caleb staunchly ignored her, instead pulling off her wig cap, letting her blue hair she never pinrolled come tumbling down her face. He took a moment, smoothing it out. Satisfied with his work, he settled back down on one knee in front of her.

“For those of you who may not know, I’ve loved this woman several years now. Jester, when we do this show every day, I get to see you, love you, kiss you, and the only time we’re apart is when we leave to sleep in separate beds, and that’s only because if we had to see each other every moment of every day, we’d never get anything done. But I think I’m fine never doing anything again as long as I get to see your face.”

Somewhere in the back of her subconscious, Jester had already fully registered what was happening, and tears rapidly began pouring from her eyes. It wasn’t like she didn’t have a clue, they were rational adults after all, conversations had happened. But here, in front of the audience, the cast, the final show? The tears ran fast and hot.

The audience was screaming, and the lights from phone cameras throughout the theatre dotted the blackness like stars in the night sky.

“Jester, you are the love of my life. You have pulled me through my darkest hours and danced with me at highest peaks. I never want to spend another moment of my life without you right by side. So.”

And there is was.

The ring.

It was _beautiful._ Simple, elegant, and just gaudy enough to be perfectly Jester.

_How many days did he spend shopping with Mama?_ She wondered in the back of her mind.

“Jester Lavorre, will you make me the happiest man I know, will you marry me?”

The audience exploded as she began to nod.

Caleb beamed that perfect smile and stood, letting out a shaky sigh of relief. It was only in that moment, as the slid the ring onto her finger, did she realize just how nervous he truly was.

Music began swelling up from the orchestra as Caduceus conducted them to the cue of the ring sliding on. Behind them, their cast began to pick up the song where they had left it- with a proposal.

_“Oh my God, oh my God you guys! Granted not a complete surprise!”_ Jester looked at the cast singing around them, whipping her head back to Caleb.

“Did you rehearse this!?” Oh god, her mic was on. The audience started laughing. Caleb laughed and shrugged.

“The show must go on, Blueberry.”

_“But if there ever was a perfect couple, this one qualifies!”_ Jester looked at the cast on stage, and saw the crew leaning out of the wings. She wasn’t the only one crying, for certain. Caleb gave her a look- _you ready?_

_“Cause now I found my love!”_ Jester jumped into her line without hesitation. _“I’ve found my way to love! I’ve finally found my prize!”_ Her voice was scratchy, thick with tears, and she was fairly certain it cracked at least twice in the few seconds she sang.

_Oh this is gonna be all over YouTube tomorrow._ Her mind supplied.

_“But if there ever was a perfect couple, this one qualifies! Cause we love you guys!”_ No one was hitting their choreo marks. The crew was practically onstage. Phones were out everywhere. Beau curled into Yasha’s side, Fjord was recording _everything,_ and Nott was openly weeping as Caduceus forced the music louder and louder as he kept turning up and back to look at them from the pit.

Jester couldn’t stop beaming.

“No, I love you guys!”

_“Oh my god-“_ She loved this man.

_“Oh my god-“_ He loved her.

_“Oh my gooooood-“_ She got to spend her forever with him.

_“You guys!”_ She grabbed his shirt by the lapels and pulled him down to meet her in a searing kiss, the tears still streaming down her face.

_“Oh my god!”_


End file.
